Karl Smith – Kites

While this is a debut solo album for Karl Smith, he is no musical novice having spent 12 years on and off since 1996 as one half of Australian folk pop act Sodastream.

Recorded in his basement while preparing for fatherhood, the PR blurb tells us that “Kites captures the heady excitement, nervous energy and intermittent panic of the time.” The reality for me though is that Kites is frustratingly close to being a fantastic album  but suffers from a lack of direction. Perhaps this “heady excitement” was counterproductive to the recording process rather than beneficial?

karl-smith

The result is that most tracks sound uneven and half worked out, with genres and styles changing disconcertingly within songs. Segments of tracks also outlast their welcome and would have been rightly cut short by a savvy producer.

Take opener After Mr Morrison and its dazzling, wonderful horn beginning that sounds like a soulful colliery band has been drafted in.  It is fantastic but then half way through the track goes all silly, with whirly gig organ popping in to ruin the excellent mood Smith has created.

The album’s centrepiece track Hang Our Bodies suffers the same fate. A beautiful first part with acoustic guitar ruined by some kind of odd organ mess. With his Daniel Bejar-esue vocals this ends up sounding like the Destroyer man has been invited to a fairground with Smith and is hating every minute of it.

As the album draws to a close Smith thankfully reins in these uneven, messy arrangements and luckily this makes the final few tracks among the best. I Know Julia has an odd time signature but its combination of piano and violin works well. Voices is a wonderful cello instrumental and final track Everything is reassuringly simple with piano and guitar and provides a satisfying close.

This is one of those reviews where I hope my criticisms are taken constructively. Artists can be prickly beasts but I write this review because I like what he’s trying to achieve and sense of ambition. However, I’m left wondering how fantastic this album could have been with a stronger, guiding hand.  In its current form it just seems like a bit of a vanity project that his label Fortuna Pop should have checked out more thoroughly before agreeing to release.

5/10

by Joe Lepper

 

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